Every event takes on qualities of epic proportions. Good meetings become the makings of great deals. Great meetings are like pixie dust creating a confection of billion dollars exist fantasies.

Conversely, every stumble hurts far more than the reality of the injury. Confidence gets shaken and once that is done – game over.

So in the pressure cooker of the startup world, losing perspective is a near universal experience. In the race to launch your venture before funds or faith run out, the focus is on the next milestone or the next deal you MUST close to keep the doors open.

While the grind can overcome our sensibilities, almost nothing will distract the startup CEO from their near myopic focus.

Almost nothing that is until Mother Nature forces herself onto your consciousness.

Sandy disrupted our inner sense of safety as it tore its way through the Tri-State area. The Northeast is not accustomed to a full natural disaster that was Sandy. We are used to being a terrorist target but now we also have to accept that we are as susceptible as any other area to natural disasters too. It is almost too hard to fathom.

But in the destruction and the internal turmoil comes a renewed sense of perspective. In the seismic shift of how bad things can get – a balanced appreciation for all we have asserts itself powerfully as though to ensure it can withstand the inevitable reverting back to the “not normal normal” that characterizes startups.

In the chaotic tumult caused by tress falling houses and tsunami level waters, some very true principles emerge as powerful counter forces to the forces of Nature.

1) Live widely by giving of yourself largely.

2) Remind yourself to be grateful for the chance to be grateful. Where there is life and health – everything is possible.

3) Be gracious to those in need.

4) Pay special attention to needs of the larger community. How we support our community is a true mark of our character.

5) Act as though your every action is being recorded and watched.

This tragedy will change many of us forever. My hope is that the change of gratitude is a permanent one.